


The Moon Shines Brighter Than The Sun

by moodyseal



Series: Memories of Dust and Gold [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: For once I'm not writing angst :'), Gen, Reunion, Siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 09:56:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18808819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moodyseal/pseuds/moodyseal
Summary: Wandering around a forest can be dangerous - therefore, wandering around a forest at evening can be fateful. The demigods know that, Meg knows that, Apollo knows that far too well.What they don't know - they go to the forest anyway, they all go anyway - is that wandering around a forest can be comforting too. Because sometimes the trees answer when you talk to them.Or maybe just what's behind them does.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I won't ever stop saying how grateful I am to @Keyseeker, who betaed this chapter and basically saved me with her comments. Thank you!

 

Life is hard when you don't have a flying Maserati that can take you anywhere you want in the world when you need it to. 

As we stepped on that mix of moss and dried mud typical of humid grounds and I thanked the gods that it hadn't rained, Meg and I tried to find a way to orient ourselves in the woods. We spent hours wandering through that forest (which, I believe, was in the northern United States), and we spent an entire week trying to get there; yet, we still couldn't manage to find a road that would guide us safely to Delphi.

The only thing we were finding were monsters, walking around there - and, most of the time, it was the bloodthirsty kind of monsters.

There was never someone who proposed to take a break and relax while enjoying the view. A giant scorpion with good manners would have been greatly appreciated, really. " _Do you want a cup of tea, kids? It's blueberry flavoured - really exquisite!_ "

Nope. The most we could get was tea scented with hemlock poison.

 

" _Hey, wait a second,_ " someone with a working brain cell could be saying, right in this instant. " _You intend on going to Greece by foot? Are you two out of your minds?_ " 

Of course not. Since America is unfairly divided from the rest of the world by the 4830 kilometers of the Atlantic Ocean, the only things we could do were either catch a flight or (and this was the most economic alternative) jump into the ocean and start swimming. But we didn't have enough money to buy even one plane ticket (actually, we didn't have any money at all), and getting to Greece by swimming was not a really good idea either, because a) a human could never live through such a tiring activity; b) I didn't want my legs to be eaten by a shark, thank you very much; c) let me remind you, the water there is pretty cold; d) the prophecy had a time limit, which was twelve days.

And in those twelve days (eight of which we had already lost due to our poor organization) we had to:

\- find a way to get to Delphi in time;

\- not get ourselves killed on the way to Delphi;

\- find the cave of the Oracle;

\- not get ourselves killed (again) by Python;

\- kill Python, possibly with some manifestation of my godly powers (hi Dad);

\- not die while trying to get home;

So, by " _we were trying to find a way to get to Delphi safely_ " I meant " _we were trying to find some immortal, divine being who could give us a ride_ ". And here's where our major problem comes up: no god was authorized to help us, and we didn't have any magical ship that could make us arrive in Europe in a blast.

Amazing, right?

 

We went on for a couple of meters; then, after three minutes of Meg's irritating complaining, I stopped.

— Are we out of here? — asked Meg for the eighth time, in a hopeful tone.

I looked at her. Her dress was filthy, because of all the dirt and grass stains that were covering it. Also, despite the fact that at that point it had been stitched so much that it seemed almost impossible for it to be ripped even more than that, the war dress Jackson-McCaffrey seemed to have gained completely new tears, as unbelievable as it sounds, and they all had such strange forms that mending them again would have been an impossible task.

It was hard for me to look into her eyes because of how dirty her glasses were, so I just decided to focus on one of her eyebrows.

 

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. — No, Meg, we're not out of here yet, or at least I don't know if we're out of here, — I said, emphasising every word. — because I don't know where we are.

She looked at me, puzzled. — So, we're lost. 

— No, we're not lost. — I replied, annoyed beyond imagination, while crossing my arms. — I simply don't know where we are. It's different from being lost, Meg. Learn the difference.

— _Apollo_. 

I wondered if lying to her would have been wise or not.

In the end I decided that, for my physical and mental well-being, it was better not to.

— ...well, yeah, maybe we're a bit lost. 

— I figured. — Meg huffed, leaning on one of the trees. She adjusted her glasses, which by then had lost almost all their rhinestones. — What do we do now, then? 

I looked around. We were probably standing in the brightest part of the forest, where the trees didn't cover all the sky, so I was able to roughly figure up what hour it was: looking up, it was easy to see, between the cracks in the leaves, a bit of the sky, coloured by the warm colors of the sunset. The sunrays were becoming fainter and fainter, and soon we would be covered by darkness. 

— We have to stop. — I decided, dumping my backpack on the ground. — The sun is already setting, and soon we won't be able to see anything, while we still need to find something to eat and to burn for the fire. Also, if we go on we'll be an easy target for monsters. 

— As if they won't kill us anyway if we just stay here. — Meg commented. However, with another huff she threw her backback onto the ground too, so I figured that she had silently accepted my suggestion.

 

It didn't take long to find all the wood we needed, which was good. There were many fallen branches on the ground ( _I didn't trip over them_ ), so we chose to pick those up; plus, Meg was having fun, cutting down others from the trunks ( _they didn't fall on my head_ ), so our task turned out to be easier than I expected.

While we were walking through the forest, as I was carrying all the firewood that my young master was collecting, I felt a sudden, strange kind of familiarity fill me, between all those tall pinetrees.

Of course, it was not the " _Hey, I know how to get out of here!_ " kind of familiarity, but more like a déjà vu. I had already been there but - _damned mortal memory!_ \- I couldn't recall when.

The teacup that I had as a brain, though, must have pitied me and decided to cooperate, because I suddently found myself overwhelmed by a vision.

 

_— You'll never catch up to me! You're too slow!_

_A deep laugh, the rustling of the leaves on the trees. Quick steps on the moss, almost impossible to hear._

_The sunlight illuminates the ground vividly - it's too bright, and it feels hot on the skin._

_More laughter, shriller and more feminine._

_A slim figure of a girl runs ahead, surpassing the guy. Her chestnut braid moves around, in sync with her movements. She has a bow in her hand, and a quiver on her back._

_— You know that I'm faster than you, brother! — she says, lively. — Why do you insist on challenging me?_

_— It's not true! I always let you win!_

_— Yeah, whatever you say! — She looks around, then points to something distant. — If you're so fast, then try to get to that tree before I do!_

_— Okay then, let's jus... hey, stop, you're have the advantage! It's not fair!_

_The girl keeps running, and laughs again. — C'mon, Apollo, catch me if you can!_

 

I winced, gasping slightly, forced to readjust to the darkness of the forest. I led my eyes from one tree to another, lost.

May the gods be blessed. Had I just seen my sister again?

My... sister. _Artemis_. That was Artemis!

After four months and two weeks, not to count those six months during which I was Zeus only knows where (literally), the Fates gave me the chance to hear her laughter once more, to see her once more, even if it was just the back of her head. Then, quickly, they took it away from me, all over again.

I was not upset about it, honestly. I already got used to that kind of treatment.

I moved closer to a tree, managing to lean on it with one hand despite of the load that I was carrying. Was that the same forest? Was that the same land Artemis and I ran on, many years ago?

Sadly, I could not recall. I observed everything that surrounded me, recognising some details, but obviously the rest was just a confused mass of memories. I felt dizzy, and my eyes burned with tears of frustration.

_Well, thank you very much, Moirai!_ , I thought, sarcastically. _Keep on throwing at me depressing and useless visions, have fun._

I mean, couldn't they give me something like, well, a map of that place? I didn't ask much.

Sadly, the Fates did not reply.

 

_Apollo_.

 

I opened my eyes wide, sure that I heard someone calling out my name. It wasn't Meg, I could be sure of that: it wasn't her voice, since it wasn't a young tone. Who was it then? Did I definitely go insane?

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck quiver.

Meg, who didn't notice up until that moment that I had stopped, turned to me, confused. — Apollo? What happened? 

I looked at her for a moment, trying to shift my attention to something different than the voice I had heard, probably while suffering from some sort of uditive hallucination. 

_You could think about enchiladas_ , rumbled my stomach. _Or maybe about roasted chicken. Or about how to get those two things._

I found myself accepting that alternative, deciding that roasted meat would be a decent distraction, at least for the moment.

The wind ruffled my hair. I exhaled, trembling. — It's nothing, don't- don't worry. Let's go, we still have a lot to do.

Meg stared at me, hesitantly. Then it seemed that her stomach brought her back to reality too, because she quickly turned her head forward, heading towards the place where we left all our possessions - our _few_ possessions, I should say. I followed her, adjusting the branches in my arms.

 

I had to think about other things at the moment.

_Who had time to follow the voices anyway?_

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

_Do you remember how much we were having fun here, Apollo?_

_Do you remember how young we were, how radiant?_

_Do you remember? Before all the responsabilities, before all the pain, before everything and everyone. Olympus didn't exist for us, Zeus' shadow didn't scare you so much._

_Where did that time go?_

_Where did you go?_

_I'm here, Apollo, listen to my voice._

_I'm here for you._

 


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as we got back to our "improvised camp", I quickly picked up my bow and quiver, separating them with impatience from my backpack's straps, and then I launched myself back into the woods.

While I was walking around between all the bushes and ditches, I was still thinking about the vision, troubled.

I couldn't understand why I had it in the first place - usually, my visions helped me, in one way or another, and sometimes they could even give me hints about the identities of my enemies using what still remained of my godly memory.

Was there something that I was supposed to understand? Some hidden sign, maybe?

  


I had no idea. I couldn't search on Google " _How to decipher strange visions sent by celestial beings_ ", and I didn't even have " _Visions for Dummies_ " at hand, so I decided that I'd wait until divine inspiration came to me, or until what the vision was trying to warn me about was about to happen.

A logical question in this situation would be ” _Couldn't you just ask the arrow of Dodona what the vision meant?_ "

I could have done that - I knew for sure that that damned twig had access to the Internet and to the Sacred Olympian Archives, it just didn't want to admit it.

However, if there was something that I wanted to hear at the moment it surely wasn't its fake Shakespearean accent, so I chose to leave the great prophetic missile in the quiver; maybe it had found a way to talk to the other arrows. At least that's what I hoped.

I laid my eyes on a couple of rabbits hopping around the exposed roots of a tree, and I hid behind a bush. One rabbit - _oh gods, it was a bunny_ \- was too little to feed both me and Meg, and I surely wasn't able to take out two bunnies with one arrow, so I had to shoot two of them at the same time.

I took the arrows out of the quiver and observed nervously their tips. As a god, it would have been a piece of cake for me to do such thing. I've never done anything similar as a mortal, though, and I was afraid that I would miss the animals. If I actually missed them, the animals would run away, and Zeus only knows when I would be able to find other preys; that forest was emptier than it seemed.

Oh, and given my luck there was the risk that I'd hit myself instead too.

I decided to try anyway.

As I put the arrows against the bow, I adjusted them so that the animals would die instantly once shot. I felt guilty enough for killing those bunnies - I didn't want to cause them more pain than necessary.

I aimed.

  


_Thwack, thwack._

  


Much to my surprise, both bodies fell to the ground, as if they were rag dolls falling from the hands of a child. As I was approaching them, though, the quick rustle of the grass made me realize that they weren't both dead: one of the bunnies was still moving its paws, clinging desperately to life.

I kneeled, and the animal stared at me with a terrified expression. Large brown eyes of a life that started only recently.

I had a flashback from the time when I was in its same, exact situation: an arrow plunged into my chest, the fear flowing through my veins along with my blood.

I sighed, caressing it gently on the head. — The choice was between you and us, buddy. I'm sorry.

I put my hand on the shaft of the arrow, and pulled; it got out in a ridiculously easy way, bringing with itself a river of blood which stained my hands. Life slowly left the creature's eyes, and watching as it did so caused a lump to form in my throat.

I stared at the arrow in my hand.

  


_— Apollo._

_— I don't want to do that._

_The forest's ground - green, green, green - fills the vision. A single flower stands out from the grass - a little, white daisy that seems to have just bloomed._

_— Apollo, you have to end it._

_— Can't you do that?_

_— Damn it- Turn your head and look at it! It's already dying, you just have to get out the arrow!_

_A pressure on the sides, and the angle changes quickly: now all that can be seen is a deer covered in blood; a golden arrow sticks out from the fur, where the red is darker. I shiver._

_— It's dying, Apollo, dying; so end its suffering now. Or are you waiting for it to do the check-out on its own?_

_A hand - my hand - stretches, slow, towards the shaft. The fingers grasp it, hesitant._

_Pull._

_And pull._

_And pull._

_And it's out._

_The deer lifts its head as if it's pleading, and its last convulsions end._

( _It isn't moving. Gods, it isn't moving.)_

_— There._

( _Killing Python was so different. This beast didn't cause me any harm.)_

_A girl with a long, chest-nut braid fills the scene._

_Her silver eyes are piercing, but her expression is soft._

_— Was it so difficult?_

_Yes. Yes, it was._

  


Iblinked a couple of times, running tiredly a hand through my hair (the clean one, of course, _I'm not a barbarian_ ). It was a memory from our early days, when my sister tried to teach me how to hunt animals. I wasn't experienced with medicine at the time, and I didn't know how to cure the poor thing yet. The " _killing an innocent animal_ " part was probably what made me give up learning that skill.

I thought about how my visions became worse, lately - they showed up once every two days now, or twice if I was really unlucky (which I always am). Also, they always happened in the least appropriate moments: four days ago, for example, I had a vision while we were fighting against a gorgon, and we almost risked losing our heads.

At the moment, thankfully, there wasn't anything that wanted to kill me, so I could feel safe, or at least as safe as you can feel with the impending threat of a giant, ancient monster who would really gladly tear your limbs apart one by one.

Anyway, I couldn't deny that that whole situation was beginning to feel weird. The visions that I've had in the past few weeks were all connected to Python - pieces of a nightmare that not even four thousand years of immortality could erase.

That's why these last two were too different to go unnoticed: they didn't relate at all to that beast - unless I somehow discovered that my sister has secretly been Python for all these years, which would make this situation a lot more awkward -, and they always had the same protagonists: _Artemis and I._

I reflected upon the reason why the visions about Python were so frequent: our final purpose was to kill him, and my mind was probably trying to keep ready so seeing that ugly face of his didn't cause me any trauma (it didn't seem to work that well, though!).

_Was it possible that she...?_

_No_ , I said to myself, trying to quickly erase that thought, _this is the most improbable thing that could happen right now._

Up until that moment, Zeus seemed to have refused to let any god come close to me (with the exception of Britomartis, of course; she was a minor goddess who didn't have my interests at heart, though, so that's probably why my father let that slide). He surely wouldn't give a special pass to Artemis. _Especially_ not to Artemis.

I began to skin the two animals, and their blood stained my hands even more. I must have looked like some sort of slaughterer, which was definitely not the look I was going for.

I recalled coming across a river, while I was searching for our food - I decided that that would surely be my next stop.

For a moment I looked up, lost in thought.

The sky was purple, and not much remained of the light colors of the sunset.

I continued my work, sighing.

_No, it was not possible._

  


\---

  


According to common belief, traveling through a path again, just in reverse, should be pretty easy - you know the way, you remember the obstacles that you could meet, stuff like that. Honestly, I thought so too, until I tripped over a root peeking out from the dirt; from that moment on I decided to be more careful (quite a difficult decision, considering that in terms of stability my legs were equal to overcooked noodles), forced to bitterly admit that not everything I believed had to be true. First The Beatles, then actual equality between genders in the world, now this - it was incredible how many things couldn't manage to meet my expectations.

I carried on walking, trying not to be caught off guard by some other root, while I was carrying the two rabbits as if they were some sort of really weird shopping bags. Of course, the disgusting noise they made helped me not to forget that they weren't, in fact, bags of groceries but they were the groceries themselves.

When I returned I found Meg who, with the extremely concentrated expression that I've only seen on Archimedes when he was about to invent some brilliant, new mechanism, was trying to build something with the left-over branches we found.

  


Not unexpectedly, they couldn't manage to stay up without falling after a couple of seconds.

  


— I'm back. — I said, as if the sounds of the bodies of the two animals clashing together hadn't already announced my presence.

Gods, I could never manage to get used to that aspect of hunting. Thankfully, that was Artemis' domain, not mine.

  


— Oh, _finally_. — Meg answered, throwing the two branches she had in her hands aside since obviously they seemed not to be worthy of her attention anymore. She turned to look at me, with an annoyed expression. — You took your time, huh? Where... _bleargh!_ — She twisted her face in disgust, as she saw the two bunnies. — What's that thing?

— Our dinner.

— Well, I won't eat it.

Her stomach rumbled in protest. Meg looked at it resentfully, but she didn't change her mind.

I came close to the fire and placed some stronger branches that I would use to cook the rabbits. — Tell me that later, when they'll be ready. — I paused. — Why do they disgust you so much, anyway? You saw raw meat at least once, didn't you? It's impossible that you did not.

Meg was still looking at the rabbits. — Yeah, but still... — She shivered. — _Bleargh_.

I laughed, shaking my head.

Once the food was cooked, we didn't talk. We just ate, in silence: Meg devoured mercilessly her portion, and took even a leg from mine despite my weak protests ( _so much for not eating_ ); I, on the other hand, tried to savour every bite of it, knowing well that this would probably be our last meal for a while, or that Meg would eat whatever we would be able to find.

I took off the hoodie I put over my shirt; June just began, yet the heat was already suffocating. I folded it a few times, so that it looked vaguely like a pillow. I put it next to Meg and said: — Here. One of us must stay up, in case some monster decides to attack us. — I leaned on a tree that was right behind me. — You must be tired, so I'll be on the watch.

Meg raised her eyebrows. — Are you sending me to bed? What are you, my nanny or something?

— To fight you need energy, and you fight better than me, so yeah, I'm sending you to bed. — I grinned. — I won't be of much help, whether I'm tired or well-rested.

Despite her obvious annoyance, Meg must have realized that I was right: she took the pillow and rested her head on it.

— This thing stinks. — she commented.

I huffed. — Ungrateful child.

After a moment of silence, she spoke again.

— Do you think that that chimera is still searching for us?

— Probably. — I answered, grinning again. — And probably it's still trying to get out of those roots you made it snag itself on.

— Won't be easy, with all those arrows sticking out of her butt. — said Meg, facing up, chuckling.

I smiled, turning my gaze to the trees and sighing. I couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad was about to happen, and I still couldn't stop thinking about the visions of Artemis I had. I hoped with all my heart that Father would allow her, I don't know... to drop in to say hi, at least.

I tried to convince myself that this wasn't going to happen. She didn't show up the day of our birthday, for the first time in four thousand years, why would Zeus let her visit on a simple, random day?

I waited until midnight, the day before our birthday. At midnight of the 25th of May, I was sitting on a bed in Camp Jupiter, with my head on my knees, trying to catch any changing in myself or in what surrounded me, just like little kids do when it's their birthday. Unsurprisingly, it was just one more year added to my age count - seventeen for my body, four thousand, six hundred and thirteen for my mind.

I waited for her the whole day, but she didn't show up, so I didn't tell anyone about what that day meant for me. It couldn't a true birthday if my sister wasn't there to celebrate it with me.

At that moment, I found myself in the same, identical pose, with my arms hugging my knees as if I was trying not to make them fall apart.

— Hey, Meg. — I said, intent on telling Meg about those visions. I felt the need to share my thoughts with someone, to get off the weight of my sister's absence, at least.

After a moment, not receiving any response, I called her again: — Meg?

I turned, looking down. She was already sleeping, seeming comfortable even on the ground, snoring like only Dionysus could do after he passed the entire night drinking five entire amphoras of wine, if not more. I abandoned myself against the three.

— _It's going to be a very long night._

  


\---

  


Right when the fact that I simply closed my eyes was almost causing me to fall asleep, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck quiver intensely.

I got up, stretching my neck to hear better any sound that could warn me about any incoming threat.

I heard the leaves rustle continuously as if something was walking amongst the bushes. Then a low hiss, and a giant shadow that was slowly approaching us.

Nothing normal. Definitely not a grass snake.

I reached Meg, walking on all my fours, and I gently shook her arm.

— Meg. — I murmured. I started to shake her with more energy, not receiving any response. — Meg, we might have a problem.

All that came from her was a very long " _ugh_ ". I tried again. — Meg, something's approaching us. It looks bad.

— Say hi to it for me. — she replied, with a sleepy tone, turning her back to me.

I glanced at the bushes. The situation was the same, just much more dangerous because _yes_ , the thing was out of the bushes and _yes_ , it was a monster. It was a dragon, to be precise: it was slowly coming towards us, with its green tail swinging around and its yellowish eyes looking at us with malice.

I forgot that dragons could freeze you if you even glanced at their eyes (where do you think that Athena took the whole idea for Medusa's punishment from?), but luckily this one seemed not to be similar to its kind in this aspect.

Nice! I could look at its beautiful, venomous teeth while they were reaching for my throat! _How fun!_

— Meg, _please_. — I said, and my voice was about to reach a note that not even Mariah Carey could hit. I couldn't take my eyes off the acid that was dripping down the beast's fangs. — There's a dragon. It looks tremendously like Python. You need to wake up.

— A dragon? — Meg got up, rubbing her eyes. When she lowered her hands, she glared at me. — Wait, wasn't he a snake? Y'know, Pyt-

When she looked at what was standing in front of us she stopped talking, with eyes as wide as a coin. She patted the ground to search for her glasses, probably thinking that wearing them would make the situation better.

"Nah, it's not a murderous monster almost sixty feet long. It's a dog."

Judging by her expression, she didn't see a dog in front of her.

I raised an eyebrow. — I can't believe that you woke up just because you thought I said something wrong.

— You're dumb, it's my duty to correct you.

— Ah, shut up.

We slowly got up, while the dragon was observing us, vigilant.

I put a hand on her shoulder. — Okay, now... don't make any sudden movement. Maybe it's not so clever and it won't attack us if we remain still.

Meg slowly turned her head at me, with stretched lips and both of her eyebrows raised, looking like she was trying to say " _Oh yeah? Maybe?_ ".

— We have to come up with something. — I stated, with my eyes focusing on the dragon. It looked like I was trying to win some sort of staring contest against it. Maybe I was still subconsciously hoping that the monsters would recognize me as the god Apollo and run away terrified, so that's why I was trying to assert dominance. Sadly, life wasn't so kind to me.

— Running away is out of the question. This thing is too long. — Meg established.

I wanted to give her the " _You don't say?_ " look, but instead I said: — It's pretty short for a dragon, though. Usually, its kind reaches almost two hundred feet in length.

Meg huffed. — Good to know. — She reached for her rings. — Well, I'm going to fight. 

— No, no, Meg, stop, wAIT-

It seemed obvious right from the start how extending her swords was a bad idea. When the swords appeared, they shone violently, reflecting the moon's rays, and the monster's gaze rapidly shifted from me to Meg, who seemed to be quite terrified. 

She managed to fight off the monster for a while, while I was trying to shoot an arrow without cutting myself. Suddenly, though, the dragon launched itself at Meg, not even giving her the time to scream; it wrapped its tail around her whole body, so around her arms too. The swords fell to the ground and turned back into rings.

— _DAMN IT!_ — screamed Meg, trying to free herself. — WHY MUST I ALWAYS GET IN THIS KIND OF SITUATION?

The Fates, Meg. The Fates.

I reached quickly for my bow. — Hey, you, ugly face! — I shouted, pointing at his head. 

" _Always aim for the head_ ": that was the zombie apocalypse movies' golden rule and it was mine too.

The dragon, about to melt Meg's head into an acid puddle, turned its head to look at me.

I shot the arrow; after drawing a large arch in the air, it clashed against the dragon's scales and fell to the ground. The dragon and I stood still for a couple of seconds, both looking at the arrow. I probably had a miserable expression, because that's how I felt; yet, despite my sadness, I managed to move just as I heard the creature's venom coming my way.

Where I was standing before, the grass was sizzling.

— It's not working! — I shouted, turning to face Meg.

Meg seemed frustrated. — Well, duh! Aim at his mouth!

— I can't! The arrows will melt!

Meg groaned in such a loud way that I managed to hear her even if she was really far away from me. — Give me the swords! I'll figure something out! — she said, pointing at where her rings fell. The dragon's tail was right in front of them, and I needed to come up with something to reach them.

I looked around frantically, running around to confuse the creature. Then, I sprinted, running behind him and trying to catch Meg's rings.

And I did that, yes. However, the ground was incredibly slippery, and just as I bent to take the rings I fell on my butt. I looked up, and saw the dragon tower over me, casting a shadow that seemed to wrap me.

While looking at its eyes, bright like flashlights in the night's darkness, I gasped as if I was drowning, trying not to think about how many similarities it had with Python; however, I was soon hit with the realization that the two shared a great, important difference: Python's gaze was more cruel, more... intelligent. Too intelligent. 

Still, it didn't help me.

Meg kept on calling me, trying to convince me to fight with not-so-delicate words. I stayed there anyway, frozen in shock and unable to move. I was sure that I was about to die, and I was ready to accept it when suddenly another shadow, way smaller, placed itself in front of me. I took a few steps back, almost scared. Whoever this was, they had a powerful aura.

I didn't see how exactly they attacked the monster, but I could hear the rustling of arrow feathers, and a few darts later the dragon lost its grip on Meg.

I got up, running quickly towards her to try to catch her. I couldn't let her injure herself: we didn't have enough ambrosia to cure her properly in case she broke one of her limbs, and I didn't want her to walk around with broken bones during the whole quest. Therefore, I had to prevent that from happening.

I managed to catch her, thankfully, but Meg's body fell on me with such force that both of us fell: Meg, apparently unharmed, and I, the true victim of this situation, who got three new bruises on my back.

— You almost killed me. — I complained, rubbing the arm that I fell on. _But at least you're safe now_ , I thought.

— Don't be dramatic, it's your fault, not mine. — she replied, scowling at me. — You should have moved, instead of staying th... — Meg stopped talking, looking confused. — Uh, where did that thing go?

We both turned our heads right when the dragon, hit by one last arrow, exploded in a dusty, yellow cloud. I looked at the dust falling along with all the arrows that managed to hit the creature, as if I was in some sort of trance.

_Silver arrows._

My eyes were wide, as I laid my eyes on the shadow that saved us: too big to be a child, too small to be an adult, dressed in silvery robes that shone in the pale moonlight.

No, it couldn't be...

When the figure turned, I felt my insides twisting as if I were on a rollercoaster.

The person who saved us (who saved _me_ ) from becoming a tiny puddle of greenish venom, the person who killed that beast... _was Artemis_.


End file.
